Family Ties
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Spoilers for "West Side Story" with speculation for the finale. Jackson's world is rocked after the revelation that Sam's his son and he has a grandson.


**I don't own Zoo nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.**

* * *

After a blood test confirmed Abigail's confession, the group stood around in shocked silence for a little while. "So, I'm a father. And grandfather," Jackson finally said, his eyes flickering towards the still unnamed baby in Clem's arms.

Jamie bit her lip and started giggling. "I'm sorry," she apologized once everyone turned to stare at her. "It's just that both Mitch and Jackson are grandfathers now - to the same baby."

"It is pretty ridiculous," chimed in Mitch.

As the shock started to wear off that his son was still alive, a wave of dizziness overtook Jackson and he had to lean down. Tessa pushed a chair closer to him and forced him to sit down. "I thought he was dead and all this time, my sister was brainwashing him. What the fuck am I supposed to do next?"

Tessa started rubbing his back. "Talk to Sam and and tell him the truth. It's not going to be easy getting through to him but you have time."

"I'm going to kick his ass once he's awake and I'm up to it," Clem threatened.

Jackson let out a little laugh. "Hey, he tried to kill me. You just relax and I'll talk to him, okay? Worry about yourself and my grandson. Oh fuck," he groaned.

Mitch bit his lip and his whole body shook as he struggled to hold in his laughter. "This is a pretty serious situation so I won't make fun of you too much but now you know how I feel."

"Leave him alone," Jamie hissed at her boyfriend.

"You just made fun of us too," Mitch pointed out.

"Yeah, but that was before Jackson started having a meltdown."

"Why didn't I ever check?" Jackson muttered to himself, shivering as a chill went down his spine.

"I think he's in shock and possibly having an adrenaline rush. Jackson, check what?" asked Mitch.

"To see if Connor survived? Why didn't I do anything?"

"First off, this is no excuse but you were nineteen years old. Second of all, the car was in flames. How were you to know that anybody could have survived the fire?" Tessa asked him. She resisted the urge to hug him because she was reasonably sure he'd flee if she tried.

"Fuck, all this time just wasted and she turned him against me." Jackson's head started to pound and he winced.

"Headache?" asked Mitch. Upon Jackson's nod, he grabbed a bottle of Advil and handed it over.

Jackson sighed. Both he and Sam had lost so much they could never get back, and he had no clue how he'd ever make up for it. There was no way he could, especially after bearing some responsibility for Sam's adoptive parents' death. Were they even his adoptive parents? Had his wife somehow survived the accident too? He wasn't sure of anything anymore, not since his world had been rocked to its core. "I need to talk to him," he said, standing up.

Mitch pushed him right back down into the chair. "You need to calm down or else you're going to come apart at the seams when you talk to the kid."

"I need to go," he insisted angrily, trying to stand up again.

"Somebody get Abe!" Jamie ordered, knowing he was the only one who'd be able to talk Jackson down.

Dariela took off towards her husband's room while Tessa tried to glare her boyfriend into submission. "If you so much as move, I'll knock you out," she threatened.

Jackson laughed. "Nice," he acknowledged.

The baby started crying and Clem started rocking him back and forth to calm him down when an idea occurred to her. "You want to hold your grandson?" she asked Jackson.

He huffed out a disbelieving chuckle. "Sure," he said.

"You sure you want him to hold the baby? He's not handling this situation well at all, not that we would expect him to." Mitch eyed both his daughter and friend in concern.

"Maybe the baby will calm him down." At least Clem hoped he would. She gently deposited the newborn in Jackson's arms and hovered over them. Tessa dropped to her knees next to him just as Dariela wheeled Abe in.

"Hey, little guy. I met you before but just as Uncle Jackson. Now I'm your other grandpa." He grinned at the baby even as his whole body continued to shake.

"Rafiki? Dariela filled me in. I want you to wait until you've slept through the night. Go see Sam in the morning, when you're well-rested."

"Don't we have to take care of the hybrids?" Jackson asked out of the blue.

"We took care of the hybrids already and stopped them," Mitch reminded him, exchanging worried looks with the others.

"You've calmed him down," Clem told Jackson as she scooped her son out of his arms.

"Let's go to bed," Tessa urged. She winced when Jackson stood back up, his body still shaking, and started walking towards their quarters. She followed him and stayed behind to make sure he didn't fall and/or hurt himself.

* * *

The next morning, after Clem visited Sam (during which she screamed at him, they had a long drag-out fight, and finally settled on a name for their son - Christopher), Jackson went to talk to him. He had calmed down considerably but Tessa stayed right outside the door just in case he broke down again. "I have something to talk to you about."

Sam glared at him. "What exactly do we have to talk about? I'm surprised I'm not dead," he angrily told the man he didn't yet know was his father.

Jackson winced. "Can you let me talk without interrupting? I need to tell you something."

Suspicious, Sam nodded anyway. "Go on."

When I was nineteen years old, I lost my wife and son, Connor, in an accident - at least that's what I assumed. Abigail told me something that rocked my world." He held out the baby blanket he now refused to part with. "She told me my son survived and as an act of revenge, turned him against me."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sam interrupted, ignoring Jackson's orders and the chill creeping up his spine.

"Because you're my son. A blood test confirmed it, and I can show you the results if you're not convinced," Jackson offered, his voice cracking. He pulled the closest chair to him and sat down when his knees nearly gave out.

Sam could only gape at him. "What the fuck?"

"Pretty much my reaction after learning all this," Jackson joked. "Found out I was a father and a grandfather in the span of thirty seconds," he continued shakily.

"Is that why Clem was acting so weird when she came in?" Sam wouldn't be surprised - he thought she had been hiding something but never expected this.

"Probably."

"What happened to Abigail?" Sam asked.

"I believe she's dead - for real this time. I'm sorry - I know you cared about her. I did too, even though she made my life a living hell." He took a deep breath. "I know we have a lot of shit to work through and you're probably still furious at me for what happened to your adoptive parents but I want to have a relationship with you, Sam."

Sam's eyes flickered down to his blanket. "Let me think about it?"

"That's fair," Jackson conceded. He wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders yet either and still didn't know how to cope with everything.

It wouldn't be easy - hadn't been, actually - but Jackson and Sam's rough start to their relationship would eventually smooth over. This was just the first step of many, and unsurprisingly enough, the baby helped bring them closer together. The two of them had missed out on so much, and they'd never be able to get that time back, but at least they could move forward together.


End file.
